[pct-l] Ice axes

[Brian Lewis]

"Is there such a thing as an adjustable combo hiking stick/ice ax? Maybe
removeable head?"

I carried a Black Diamond Whippet on the CDT going SOBO in 2011 through
Montana and found it to be a good choice.  The head doesn't remove, but it
worked for me at one point as a self-arrest tool when I needed that.  There
are downsides, however.  It's heavy for a trekking pole; I carried it in one
hand and a normal trekking pole in the other and felt slightly weird due to
the weight difference, but no big deal, really.    It also doesn't collapse
small at all, which made it slightly more of a PITA to swap for a regular
pole by mail.   You can't chop steps with it, but I almost never do that
anyway (and a very lightweight axe isn't optimal for that either).  More
significantly IMO is that you can't self-belay with it.   It wasn't bad to
use to sweep pine cones off of a campsite golf-club fashion (truly not a
significant use, but occasionally fun).       It's not anywhere near as good
as a regular ice axe for digging a cathole (which I found a bit more
significant, I was always borrowing my hiking partners axe for this
important task). 

Still, I found it to be a good trade-off walking through quite a lot of snow
in Montana.

And FWIW, both my hiking partner and I really liked our microspikes
throughout there.  Easy to put on and take off, and you can keep wearing
them across no-snow patches, and they always stayed on our shoes reliably
and well.  With that I don't mean to dispute the experience of others (!),
it's just what we encountered.  I'm a big fan of microspikes after having
done a lot of miles in them in Montana.



           Brian Lewis / Gadget